Mallory Ignaszewski and Lauren Brownlow recently completed internships with the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency. This is what they had to say about the experience.
This summer we had the opportunity to have an internship at the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency (ALEDA). We have completed many projects during this internship that have taught us about economic development in Albert Lea. The first project we started on was digitally archiving important documents from the file room. This consisted of scanning files that date back to the 1960’s and organizing them onto the computer. This has taught us about ALEDA’s history and how the organization has evolved over the years. We called businesses in the Albert Lea area to gather their employee counts. This information was documented on a spreadsheet to understand company size and employment levels in Albert Lea. An ongoing project we worked on was creating a spreadsheet of new businesses, business expansions, community developments, infrastructure improvements, and new housing that have come to Albert Lea in the past few years. This showed us all the positive developments that are happening in our town. We started researching green transportation in other towns to see how we can incorporate it in Albert Lea. This allowed us to grow our research skills and learn what other communities are doing in economic development.
The Albert Lea Economic Development Agency owns a business incubator center called the Albert Lea Business Development Center (ALBDC). The ALBDC offers an entrepreneur a quality space, free business services, and professional links to start-up businesses. Over the summer, we have been creating new marketing materials for the ALBDC. This has consisted of designing flyers that market the available space in this building to seek a future tenant. We have also created new and up-to-date emergency exit signs to go into the building. Another project we worked on was compiling information for Shovel Ready Applications. We did research to find this information and contacted local providers to answer questions dealing with electricity, water, natural gas, and telecommunications. In addition to these projects, we also covered the front desk for a few hours a day. This helped us improve our communication skills as we worked with customers who came to our office or called us on the phone. A great experience in this internship was attending the Board meetings and ALBDC meetings every month. We were able to witness the discussions and problem-solving skills that occur in the business world.
During our internship at ALEDA this summer, we learned a lot about economic development. We were shown how our town is constantly growing and changing to become more advanced. We learned how important it is to create relationships and have strong community leadership. The skills we have gained throughout this internship include social skills, time management, organization, data entry, collaboration, and problem solving. One of the most valuable parts of this internship was the hands-on experience that we had while completing a variety of projects. These projects showed us how much time, thought, and teamwork goes into economic development. This internship was a great experience for both of us, and we will continue to use these skills throughout our careers.